Jet fuels are produced from the petroleum refining process. The production of jet fuel can be simply a cut from a crude fractionator. More frequently, jet fuels go through various processing steps to meet specifications such as acidity, aromatics, olefins, naphthalene, smoke point, sulfur, mercaptan, freeze point, and color. The particular processing required is a function of the grade of jet fuel produced. Light jet fuels having the jet fuel 1 grade are generally straight run kerosene produced from distillation of crudes. Higher jet fuel grades such as JP-5 and JP-8 contain various additives such as antioxidants, corrosion inhibitors, dispersants and the like to meet specific end use requirements. Such requirements can be international in scope as jet fuels are used in a global market.
While the overall market for kerosene has been in decline since the 1970's, the market for jet fuels has been expanding in most countries. Thus most U.S. refiners have been running at close to capacity to meet the fuel needs of fuel customers including the need for jet fuels. Currently (2005-2006), the U.S. uses slightly less than 2 million barrels per day of jet fuel. Most of that usage is produced domestically with only a small amount of imports. Exports are also small and mostly comprise fuel loaded on airplanes used for international flights.
A significant volume of kerosene based jet fuel is used for blending with diesel fuel in cold climates. This use may lessen because jet fuel usually contains more sulfur than permitted under the new ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) regulations. Implementation of the ULSD regulations may, however, increase the demand for kerosene within the refinery as a diesel blendstock because it is easier to remove sulfur from kerosene than diesel fuel.
The cost of jet fuel has become a serious issue for airline operators. In general, the cost of jet fuel roughly tracks the cost of crude oil. Thus airline operators have experienced a significant rise in jet fuel costs.
There is a need to maximize the yield of high quality jet fuels derived from kerosene. Factors such as sulfur, flash point, freeze point and smoke point need to be considered in light of changing regulations governing jet fuels.